Reprinted from Congressional record,
Washington, D.C. Thursday, November 19, 1987.

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

Washington, D.C.

  ---- Quoted written statement ----

Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

Following the catastrophic war effort in Yugoslavia as early as the middle of July in the year 1941, I placed myself under the command of the then Colonel, Draza Mihailovic. Within the structure of the resistance movement under his command I was assigned the following responsibilities: organizer in the movement, commander of Lepenica Detachment, commander of the Lepenica Brigade, commander of the Second Corps of Sumadia as a permanent unit, commander of the Western Morava Group of Corps as a temporary strategical unit in the summer of 1944, and the chief of stuff of the Sumadia Assault Corps in the reorganization of 1945 during the movement through Bosnia. During the later transformation into guerrilla forces, in May of the same year, I was once again placed in command of the Second Corps of Sumadia. I remained in that capacity of the Second Corps of Sumadia. I remained in that capacity until June 10, 1946 when, following Draza Mihailovich's fall into communist hands, I crossed the border into Greece.

In light of the time I had spent under the command of General Mihailovich and in light of the responsibilities that I had, I was in a situation where I was familiar with many events and circumstances. As the commanding officer in charge of operations in that area I would like to offer eyewitness testimony regarding the rescue and evacuation of American Airmen who were forced to parachute into Serbia.

We, under the command of General Mihailovich, in a state of civil war while simultaneously under enemy occupation, entered the year 1944 with a great deal of anxiety as a result of the external political stance toward us, but not without hope. As the year progressed, it become increasingly apparent that the war was ending and that the axis forces would be defeated. As a result, General Mihailovich, began preparations for a final reckoning with the enemy. Orders clearly indicated a shift from guerrilla activities to conventional military actions.

By mid-February of 1944, with few exceptions, this was accomplished in the formation of groups of corps tied territorially to fixed districts. Shortly after this, orders were given to form assault corps subdivided into groups which were then sent to strategically significant regions. In the beginning of July of the same year, the Western Morava Group of corps was formed. I was given the order to assume command of this Group of corps. It was centered in the region of Pranjani as the strategical reserve of the High command which was situated in that region.

While all this was in the process of being enacted, a completely new phenomenon began to occur. With the beginning of spring [1944], U.S. bomber squadrons began to pass over this region. The frequency of these flights gradually increased until they were daily occurrences. With these aerial operations, we were assigned completely new additional duties. Many crews were forced to parachute from damaged aircrafts. The units of the Ravna Gora Movement, under the command of General Mihailovich with the assistance of all the Serbian people, rescued these fliers and kept them from falling into the hands of the enemy. This was often in battle with full knowledge of the risks.

The number of these incidents grew quickly. The High Command, encouraged by the suitability of the terrain as well as its proximity to these occurrences, issued a general order stating that all rescued airmen should be directed to Pranjani, and that the commander of the first Ravna Gora Corps situated there organize their reception, lodging, and food as well as the continuous protection required. the question or their evacuation was undefined for many reasons. For one thing, this was an entirely new situation. Moreover, the position of the West toward us [Chetniks] was uncertain. Very soon, however, the conditions for the evacuation of the airmen were created.

As it developed, there were many evacuations. But the largest of them occurred on August 10, 1944, from the airfield at Pranjani [Serbia]. From midnight until some time in the morning there were evacuated 252 fliers in sixteen transport planes escorted by fighters.

Several days prior to this evacuation there were gathered at the airport at Pranjani a portion of the Western Morava Group of Corps along with the rescued airman. General Mihailovich inspected the troops present and this was followed by a processional march. He then gave a speech before all those present regarding our situation and following this he bade farewell to the airmen. He then spent some time in conversation with the committee representing the airmen under the shade of a stand of oak trees not far from the battlefield while the remaining fliers mingled with the Serbian soldiers and exchanged souvenirs while saying good bye to one another.

The supply and defense of this operation was given by the Western Morava Group of Corps as it was situated in the region where this took place. This was a military operation with all the necessary precautions and preparations taken in the event of an attack from either land or air. Fortune had it that preoccupation of the enemy elsewhere prevented any battle from occurring. Irrespective of this, the operation itself was a significant and major united military effort between the U.S. Air Forces and the entire Ravna Gora Movement under the command of General Draza Mihailovich. Specifically, it include the Western Morava Group of Corps which consisted of the First and Second Corps of Sumadia, the First and Second Corps of Ravna Gora, the Corps of Valjevo and Corps of Pozega. The strength of these corps numbered some 7,500 men.

At the end of August, there followed two smaller evacuations from Pranjani, then three more evacuations, also of a smaller scope, followed. One took place in the village of Svileuva not far from Kiceljeve around September 17th, and two in the region of Boljanici not far from Doboj [Bosnia]. The first occurred at the end of October, and the second on December 27, 1944. All in all there were approximately 600 airmen evacuated of which over 500 were Americans while remainder were from other allied forces. It would take many more words if I were to begin to cite examples which would show with what love and sacrifice the Sebian people, through their Ravna Gora Movement headed by General Mihailovich, participated in these rescues. I leave this to the rescued airmen with the deep belief that among them there is not one who does not have at least one souvenir of remembrance of that effect. I also leave it to these men to tell the American people how much truth there is in the spurious disinformation since emanating from the communist government of Yugoslavia. I would, however, like to emphasize, as commander of the Western Morava Groups of corps, that were to Germans to have attacked during the evacuation of August 10, 1944, our units, although poorly armed and low on ammunition, would have defended the American Fliers to the last man.

- A.M. Milosevic -

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[Congressional Record on Draza Mihajlovich].